Posted on 09/03/2011 1:21:47 PM PDT by Hojczyk
The Obama Administration is suing a trucking company for firing a driver who admitted he was alcoholic. Unreal. FOX News reported:
Citing a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Obama administration is suing a trucking company for taking the keys away from an Arkansas driver and eventually firing him after he admitted he was battling alcohol abuse.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit this week arguing that Old Dominion Freight Line discriminated against Charles Grams by stripping him of his position and offering him a demotion even if he completed a substance abuse counseling program.
Instead, the EEOC argued, the North Carolina-based company, which has a service center in Arkansas, should have complied with the law, known as the ADA, while ensuring safety.
“The ADA mandates that persons with disabilities have an equal opportunity to achieve in the workplace,” said Katharine Kores, director of the EEOCs Memphis District Office, which covers Arkansas. “While the EEOC agrees that an employer’s concern regarding safety on our highways is a legitimate issue, an employer can both ensure safety and comply with the ADA.”
Steve Hayward added this from Lachlan Markay of the Heritage Foundation explains:
If the EEOC prevails, of course, it will mean that Old Dominion will still be liable both for any damage to life or property that results from a potential relapse by one of its recovering drivers – which in turn increases the risks involved in investment in the company – and for the cost of trying to ensure that such damage never occurs. All of these new burdens will raise Old Dominion’s cost of doing business, and hence the cost of everything they transport. And all of this can’t possibly ensure that a recovering driver does not relapse without the company’s knowledge.
Foster Brooks would be proud
Damned either if you do or don’t ! No incentive for anyone to succeed and hire more people !
Where does Obama get the time for all this minutiae? If the man has a problem with an employer, shouldn’t HE seek legal council? Obama is a friend to all those discriminated against./s
So this also mean that the state can’t suspend his license?
So DOES this also mean
That's the ticket!
Maybe he only drives drunk on the job, though.
Since when did being an alcoholic constitute a disability? This is a blatant misuse of the ADA.
Zippy and the rest of his brain dead admin show again how little they know about business. A freight company simply cannot allow a known drunk, sober or otherwise, behind the wheel. The potential insurance and liability issues alone are staggering.
IMHO ... They already went above and beyond by offering this guy a lesser paying, non driving job to keep him employed. Simply put ... The potential liabilty issues for this dude behind the wheel were too great to allow him to continue driving a multi ton vehicle. Period.
Old Dominion should be applauded for their actions .. Not sued. And again... Zippy and Co show how utterly ignorant they all are about liability issues and business in general.
GOD help us all.
There's that, too. Also, I don't see how the ADA trumps common sense. Suppose that instead of being an alcoholic, the driver had developed seizures. What kind of accommodation can the employer make that doesn't expose him to huge liabilities and also endanger the public? Some disabilities preclude the performance of particular jobs.
What’s next, pilots?
But first let's require the US Air Force to put alcoholic flight crews in Air Force One and all other Obama administration flights. Including the First Lady's and VP Biden's planes.
And don't forget Marine One and the other helicopters.
Agreed! What really scares me is that the federal gov’t has no compassion for the family car that will be using the same road when this fellow falls off the wagon. While giving “civil liberites” to one drunk, they trample on the freedoms of millions. Typical libs.
When your body physically depends on something as destructive as alcohol, I would call it a disability. Addiction is a terrible thing that you can’t really understand unless you have experienced it.
Obama protecting his voting base. Who would vote to re-elect him while sober?
So is the trucking company non-union?
but did the guy go for help or get a dui? it seems he just went for help so how could his license be suspended
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